prison

The war on drugs is very real. Many of the country’s prison population is serving hard time behind bars due to their involvement in the drug game.

Thousands on inmates are serving Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences for offenses that are as small as possession of a crack pipe or a smudge of heroin in a bottle cap.

From Huffington Post:

Prisoners serving life without parole make up one of the fastest-growing populations in the prison system, according to the ACLU’s analysis of data from the United States Sentencing Commission, the federal Bureau of Prisons and state corrections departments. The report attributes this rise partly to the prevalence of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws and other punitive drug policies embraced by lawmakers who hoped to define themselves as “tough on crime” in the ’80s and ’90s.

Read more at Huffington Post

Huffington Post’s list, “These 32 People Are Spending Their Lives in Prison” puts the face, 32 of them to be exact, to the affects of the war of drugs on America.
The ACLU has recommended that states as well as the federal government, abolish LWOP for nonviolent offense and reduce sentences for prisoners already serving them.

Thoughts on life without parole?

Should the sentence only be reserved for this who commit crimes of violence?

Sound off below!